Well, there was a question whether I would be able to merge back some bug fixes to the TC:E source and release a “fixed” TC:E version.

I guess, this will be disappointing for some, and I am sorry, but frankly this is very unlikely to happen.

I will explain why, and what my current thoughts on former versions of TC and on TC:CQB are. So, if you want to take the time ...

Before that I want to thank the many very constructive alpha testers and I hope they can see that they are heard. I enjoy your feedback and your support.

Secondly, I want to say:
“P* off you f* b* i* who still can't understand that CQB was NEVER even intended to be TC:E 0.50. And even if it were you would be f* complaining just as much. F*, you wouldn't be satisfied at all and you would just behave like a whining gourmet mod taster thinking that one man should achieve what a whole development studio should be doing just at your convenience anyhow. Moreover, you would be constantly complaining that your beloved exploits that gave you the opportunity to once in a life time compete with other ppl are now gone.”
If you feel addressed by this statement, just finally p* the f* off you f* piece of s* and waste some other devs time, you f* s*b*. And get a life, btw.

No offense, but this had to be said.

Now back to something different.
For me, the different versions of TC were always a bit of a bastard because they were arcady and simulator like in some facets with the one and other version more focused on different aspects of these two very different worlds. The reason is that I like both kinds of gaming and never found the fitting twist in the existing games out there. Particularly back in the years after 1999, back in the golden days of modding, there was nothing much existing. There were mods upcoming like UT99 Infiltration, later Q3 Navy Seals, on the one hand and on the other Action Quake, Urbanterror, even Counterstrike was a new mod back then. So, Q3TC came up with its own twist and established iron sights only (huge fight against tons of Q3 based complainers back then). Years later with Cod2 and then finally with Cod4 (Modern warfare), I had the game in my hands that made all arcady and fast-paced aspects of TC redundant. Better engine, better play tested, basically everything I always wanted to reach with the more arcady side of TC. Done. That’s when any motivation to further develop TC:E was finally dead. And still, with MW2 and Black Ops at hand, I can not understand why would one ask for a fast-paced, instant-turn, iron-sight, jump-action mod? Finally, professional game studios did what we tried many years earlier. This is exactly where QCB comes in to fill the gap to something like Arma2 with limited more realistic movement, decent weapon and scope simulation etc.. I will be happy if in a few years, professional games will feature reflex sight and optics simulation like now in CQB. It is just a matter of time.

As a sidenote, the main features that TC:E fans seem to hate ("CQB feels like TC:Es retarded brother") were part of the never released nor finished TC:E 0.491, namely the physical player movement model (PPMM) and the unified weapon model. That's all from beginning of 2007 like some other unreleased stuff. So, if there would have been an update back then, it would have been TC:E with all the stuff you now hate with QCB, minus the slot and ability system :)

I will release the new 0.223 patch before easter, so stay tuned. I will not be able to finish all items on my anticipated plan but I've made some progress.

Currently I am straightening the skills/addons/abilities/perks.

The Gear slot (which really is addons for primary) now offers the high grade ammo again. This time it slighly increases the effective range of the weapons and exchanges 00 buckshot against slugs for the primary shotguns. Later on, also in connection to how the introduction of different armor is received, I could also think of better penetration capabilities or FMJ vs JHP.

The Body slot now offers different levels of armor paired with effects on movement speed.
*Lightweight: (same as sprinter before) offers a bit of speed increase
*Vest: reduces the damage applied to only the body hit zone (without arms)
*Tank: stronger reduction of damage applied to body, probably plate in the front, slower movement

The Combat slot now offers also
*Quick Reload: guess what
and has changes to
*Commando: increased knife damage and range plus free climb

I noticed that there is at least one hacked server running, with custom content.

Wow, I would not have guessed that there are such awesome guys out there who are able to bypass the sv_official check. Yeah, now I am really looking forward for all that awesome content you will offer on your awesome hacked servers. Thanks for supporting this game so much.

Thanks also for the damage you guyz do by letting other ppl believe that the hacked stuff is still official. At least name your servers "awesome hacked crap".
Then ppl also know how awesome you and your server are.

Just to be clear. I never intended to lock sv_official forever. And I can also understand and enjoy that ppl like to modify CQB. But if you run modified public servers that still say "official" then this is really misleading and does damage.

This week was quite busy IRL and development slowed a bit down.
I have a version 0.224 more or less ready (mainly bugs and glitches fixed) and I also started to work on a indoor Urban terrain training map. A bit similar to Cod4 Killhouse but more serious like some old SWAT map combined with some flavour of Americas Army old MOUT map.

It's a bit sad that so few ppl are playing, since I actually (no wonder) enjoy the current alpha very much over MW2 and BO.

RL was quite busy and development almost stopped during the last months. I've added two mag fed shotguns, USAS 12 and Saiga 12C and the MAC compile chain is established (Intel only).
I have to finish killhouse and to add KAC PDW, G36C, AKSU-74, and Galil. The current SCAR-L will get a standard barrel as counterpart of the Galil and the G36C will counter the current short barreled SIG.
That's the final weapon selection then.

Has been a long time. I want to be honest about it, development of CQB has halted for quite some time now. Frankly, I can't find motivation to work on an idtech3 engine based game anymore. At least for the moment. It's been 12 years since the first steps of Q3TC. I think CQB is a nice tech demo showing off what's possible with idtech3, but without remake of the player models and without an update of the renderer it is stucked. Ultimately, I have to have fun at the development of whatever spare time project I am working on, and fun has stagnated ever since the initial release. Moreover, it doesn't look like there will ever be a stable and compatible renderer update to the ET engine. Taken together don't expect any further release unless I state something new.

However, I wasn't completely lazy either. Those who followed the discussion about potential alternative engines will remember that I favoured COD 4 or COD:WAW engine. I don't want to reiterate all the arguments but it turned out that COD4 is the best choice for me, with good scalability and smooth transition for mapping.
So, I have been busy (too a rather limited extent) with the first version of a new TC franchise on COD 4 not too different to CQB, which will be ready for playtesting before Xmas. The game will even more focus on CQB scenarios, with much more limited arsenal offering maximum variety of play styles.

I'm sharing a sign of life here, because I did some posts in another discussion.

Well, months have passed and I didn't continue to work on the COD4 project.
It's more or less done and playable with stock COD4 maps, but I couldn't find motivation to do the finishing touches.

Meanwhile I decided to try some up-to-date engines and after some UT3 modding experiments I ended up toying around with UDK.
I am currently working on a retro arena shooter, bringing back those glory Quake-series and UT99 times. The game features 10 weapons inspired or taken from either Quake or UT and Q2/3-style game mechanics (health, armor, item pickup, rocket and grenade jumps, etc).
Nice thing with UDK is that cooking a standalone release is such a piece of cake. I guess I am going to publish it at one point, but I am using UT3 weapon models and Q2 music right now, though I guess that would'nt be a problem in a free game. Maps will be Deck 16 (UT3, remake of UT99) and my own remake of Q2's Edge (q2dm1).
There is an old video for those who are interested ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eAua3a1dm4 ), but I am much further now.

Well, with the site getting an overhaul by Diane and some time having passed, I had a look at CQB again. I didn't really code something, just took a fresh look at it and compared it to all the other tons of shooters out there. Somehow the game felt sluggish to me but otherwise great so I removed the view rotation limitations and toyed around a bit.

In essence, if anybody is still reading this, I decided to give it a last shot if there would be someone out there who is willing and capable of jumping on the train and modify the ET engine in the following way:

These are very simple steps, given there are plenty of quake3 GPL projects out there (e.g ioq3_urbanterror_bumpy (on github) comes closest to it). I don't have the time for this, and I've asked for this before. I don't want more fancy other engine mods. I don't care for full dynamic light. No complete overhaul required. I am asking for 4-5 basic steps.

So, if you got tired with your overhaul- or from-scratch-project and if you have reached the conclusion that you will never finish it, or if you are talented and just care to invest some weeks: this is your chance. This train might be ugly but will at least take you somewhere.

Are there ppl up for closed alpha play testing? I guess there is a lot to tweak, so serious feedback would be required. It would also be decided whether this heads back in direction of early TC 045, which probably fits Cod4 movement mechanic quite well (still Q3).

Well, we aren't noisy, but some dedicated people are working on the upcoming Truecombat mod for Cod 4: Modern warfare.
The mod itself, MWTC, is codewise ready for aplha. However, the decision was that MWTC should feature its own maps, independent of Cod 4.

Right now 4 maps are shaping, with Kil and Ross working on Delta (originally by Liquid) and Damien is porting Snow. I have changed some scaling in Cod 4's Backlot map, which will be adapted for MWTC. I have also started to recreate MW2's famous Favela.

This initial mix provides four very different styles of environments and seasons.

Stealth is working on a new version of Lumberyard (including rain) while Dimstar promised to port Village (originally by Tweety) to complete the map selection.

We are now aiming at playable "raw" versions of the maps featuring Bodycount, Demolition, and Capture the Flag.

It has been some time and I had hardly time to work on MWTC. Unfortunately the freelance mappers stopped their contributions too.
Therefore I guess it is time for a change of plans. I've put some further touches to the mod code and some assets, and to the, so far, only map mp_tc_backlot.
This would be a package ready for release but I am struggling whether it would be a meaningful alpha with one single map.
I can't promise more mapping from my side in the near future.

There are two options:
a) 1-map release, hoping for third party contributions with TC-specific scale and quality.
b) The use of selected original COD4 maps and sticking to COD4 scale (we've dumped this option long ago assuming there would be some progress with own maps)